Alba Botanica Acne Dote or Don’t: Product Review

I’m still battling with mild acne that my dermatologist likes to reference as Hormonal breakouts. It’s awful, but I don’t allow it to steal my confidence anymore. I refuse to purchase the $70 face washes that he prescribes and take medications that make me lightheaded. It’s just a personal choice of beauty over health and peace of mind. I recently tried a new face wash outside of my regularly used all natural facial cleanser. You probably remember me sharing it in my “Beauty Favorites for 2017“.

I decided to try a new brand of natural facial wash formulated specifically for acne-prone skin. Just shopping and saying, “oooh!” I purchased the Alba Botanicals Acnedote from Target for about $8 00. It’s described as a maximum strength formula that fights breakouts even after you rinse. It has 2% salicylic acid and described as a gentle acne fighting ingredient. The second advertised ingredient listed in this face wash is willow bark extract.

In the past, I’ve used products that are designed to mattify oily skin, like mine, and willow bark extract was the primary ingredient just like in this facial wash. When I learned and researched about all of the harmful side effects of parabens and their possible link to cancer, I was pleasantly happy that this product is free of them. According to their packaging, “ 70% of users saw clearer skin in just 7 days.”

My skin and results using acne dote must fall into the 30% range of people who experienced more acne. I assumed I wasn’t drinking enough water, so I chugged more. I washed my face consistently with this product for 3 weeks and so no improvement in my breakouts. In fact, outside of my occasional hormonal breakouts, acne began to appear in places that I’ve never had breakouts before. This included my forehead and chin. With my personal experience using this product, I’m going to say that it’s a acne don’t for me. I plan to continue to drink more water and eat as healthy as possible when I’m at home because I know that this also helps with hormonal breakouts, but I will return to using my handy Simple Skin Care Moisturizing Face Wash.

Have you ever tried the Alba Botanicals Acne dote or Simple Skin Care Moisturizing Face Wash? What were your experiences?